The Lord Howe stick insect is officially back from the dead

DNA evidence shows the insects survived what scientists thought was an extinction

IT LIVES Although darker than those found on Lord Howe Island, these stick insects, from nearby Ball’s Pyramid, are the same species.

Rohan Cleave, Melbourne Zoo

It’s a rare triumph when a species comes back from the dead. A new genetic analysis has officially established what many entomologists and conservation biologists hoped was true: The Lord Howe stick insect (Dryococelus australis) lives.